Airspace design activities typically begin as a response to a problem in an existing airspace design. Over time, traffic grows and patterns diverge from those intended by the airspace designers. Sectors may become congested or constrained, causing excess air traffic controller workload and requiring frequent flow control actions. In extreme cases, controllers may even have to deny handoffs on occasion. To correct these problems, airspace designers typically modify principal aircraft flows, sector shapes and sizes, or sector floors and ceilings. Airspace designers may also split or combine sectors.
The airspace design process often begins with a simple drawing of the major traffic flows and a proposed sector shape. Designers then evaluate the proposed design. However, the overall evaluation is subjective, based solely on the designer's knowledge and judgment. There is a lack of objective guidelines, design rules and tools to evaluate the quality of an airspace design.
What is needed is a method and system for evaluating an airspace design.